The secret Daughter of the Boy Who Lived
by bukster
Summary: What if Harry and Ginny had a daughter? What if they kept it a secret from the entire wizarding world? What if, before they could tell anyone about their daughter they died? Forever keeping the wizarding world in the dark.
1. Prologue

The secret daughter of the Boy-Who-Lived

Prologue

In a dark, cold, silent street at the poor suburbs of London, a young couple were walking hurriedly through it. The couple, while they didn't look strange, except for the fact, that they wore all black which made them blend into the moonless night more easily, acted very suspiciously. They kept on glancing right and left, not quite trusting the silence of the night.

They stopped suddenly, in front of an old rundown building that had definitely seen better days. In front of the building was a crooked signboard which read 'St Magdalene Orphanage'.

As the young couple stared at the orphanage, one of them spoke. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" The voice sounded very worried and almost hysterical. "What if something goes wrong?"

The other voice, which was much deeper than the first, soothingly responded. "Nothing will go wrong, we've planned everything perfectly. There's a protective barrier around her that keeps people from seeing her except members of the orphanage her until the morning. The worst that can happen is that we die in the hands of Voldermort-" The voice broke off. "If that happens at least we'll know that we protected her the best that we could."

The couple both glanced at the subject of their conversation. It was a baby with red hair in a basketnette that was held in the arms of the companion with the higher voice that was quite obviously a female.

"I just wish we could have known her more." The female sighed "I wish we could have had normal lives where there was no such thing as Voldermort."

"As do I." Said the young man with the deep voice said "At least, if anything happens to us we'll know that someone we trust is watching over her."

The young man looked at his watch and sighed. "It's time to go. People will get suspicious if we don't show up."

"Wait a second." They young woman took off a locket that was around her neck and placed it around the baby's. "Now I'm ready."

The couple both kissed the baby, stared at her one last time then placed her on the orphanage's doorstep. They turned and didn't glance back as they apparated away.

They baby in the baskenette slept peacefully, unaware that this was the last she would ever see her parents alive again.


	2. Chapter 1: The Orphanage

Chapter 1: The Orphanage

It was a cold dull grey morning at St Maddalene's Orphanage with heavy rain pouring swiftly from thick clouds. Lily Sutton reluctantly concluded as she stared through the windowsil of her room- that she shared with three people- into the depressing sky that it would probably stay like this all day.

She sighed cursing her luck that today of all days it had to rain when it hadn't rained for nearly a whole month. This was supposed to be one of the most happiest days of the year for her and was going to be ruined because of the stupid weather. Today at May 25th she was supposed to be celebrating her 11th birthday at the beach in the sun.

With the added bonus that she would finally be able to rule the orphanage with the other 11 years and older. Those were the workings of St Magdalene's Orphanage. As soon as you turned 11 you were thought able to take care of yourself and others and were given your own room (since they were so few older children). Which really meant that you could bully youngersters to do stuff for you and they coudn't complain.

Lily had detested being the servent of the older children and had being looking forward to this day for as long as she could remember.

She sighed again as she was brought to another unpleasant thought. She had lived here the longest out of all the other children. The majority of the young orphans tthat she had grown up with had being adopted and replaced with others. Many older ones had been here for only a few years. She knew that the older she got, the unlikelier it was for her to ever get adopted.

Almost all the children at St Magdalene's knew their parents, or at least knew their parent names. Lily didnt' know anything about her parents. She didn't even know her real surname. She had been found 10 years ago at May 25th at the doorstep of St Magdalene's Orphanage. The woman who ran the orphanage, Victoria Bones had named her Lily after the blanket she had being found with which had the name Lily sown on it. She had also given her the name Sutton from the make of the basketnette she had neing found with.

Lily loved Victoria- as many of the children calld her- like a mother but hated her parents. They had abandoned her at the doorstep of an orphanage, they hadn't even left her a surname. The only thing from them was a broken locket that couldn't be opened with the words _'A love worth protecting' _inscribed on it. She disliked thos words greatly because she knew they were just lies. If they had really loved her they wouldn't have left her.

She was broken from her bleak thought by a loud shout. "Lily!" it was her Best friend Cassandra Lestrange calling her from downstairs. "Are you going to stay up there all day or come downstairs. It your birthday!"

"I'm coming!" Lily calld back as she ran down the stairs to greet her friend. "Morning Cassie." She said dejectedly as she met Cassie at the bottom of the stairscase.

"What do you mean by 'morning Cassie'?" Cassandra asked "Todays your birthday, haven't you being talking about this day for months now?"

"It's being ruined!" Lily moaned "It was supposed to be _sunny_. But if you go outside it's raining cats and dogs. How are we supposed to go to the beach when we can't even go outdoors.

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Sometimes you act like such a baby."

Lily stuck her tongue out "So what. I'm allowed to act like a baby, it's my birthday. Besides you can't call me a baby any more, I'm the same age as you."

"Yeah but I'm still three months older than you." Cassandra laughed

Lily hated it when Cassandra teased her about her age and was about to retort back when Cassandra suddenly pulled her into the direction of the dinning room

"Come." She said. "I have something to show you." She opened the door to a silent room.

"What is it?" Lily began as the dining room was rarely used except for formal occasions. "Why did you bring me he-"

"SUPRISE!!" Many children faces popped out of nowhere and suddenly surrounded her at once

"What is this?" Lily asked, stunned

"It's your birthday party." Her fellow orphan friend Micheal Sameul replied in the sea of faces

"Yeah, we were planning this for ages." Another voice whose face was hidden behind a swarm of people added.

"What do you mean?" Lily said. She had not moved from between the doorway.

"We all knew that it would rain today for at least a week so we all decided to plan a suprise party for you." Cassandra replied while puling her more into the room. "You should really watch the news sometimes."

"Wait," Lily said slowly. She looked around and saw faces of her fellow orphans but also noticed that there were party decoration everywhere and the dining room table was stacked with food ."You planned this all for me."

"Yeah." Was the general chorus

"Of course." added Cassandra. "It's your big double ones."

"I don't know what to say." she said gratitude seeping into her voice.

"Just say thank you." A gruff teenagers orphan voice called Timothy Wakers cried ou. "So we can all eat cake!"

Everbody laughed

"Thanky you everybody." Lily called laughingly.

As soon as she said that there were movement of people and chairs as they all moved to seat around the diding table so they could get the best stuff to eat.

Soon the party was in full swing people were either playing games (that was moslty the little kids), eating food or talking quietly to themselves. Victoria- the person who ran the orphanage- was sitting quietly in a corner of the room with a small smile on her face as she watched they children interact.

The boys of the orphanage around Lily's age group were crowding around Lily and Cassandra. They were flirting outrageously with Cassandra and blatannly ignoring Lily who looked very annoyed by it all and ready to lose her temer at anyy minute. She held her anger in because she knew that anyone who was around Cassandra couln't help crowding her.

Cassandra was beautiful and tall. With her long legs and long curly dark hair that reached dark hair that reached the small of her back and framed her face. She had even darker eyes which were framed with long lashes and her pale ivory skin emphasized the darknes of her eyes and hair. She carried herself in an aura of matureness that was way beyond her 11 years. A lot of boys in the orphanage fancied her.

Lily knew that she could never match up to Cassandra's beauty. She thought her features were barly passable. She was just below average height and her shoulder length bright red air was very messy and flyaway. The only way to tame it just a little was to put it into a tight ponytail. The millions of freckles on her face were the bane of her existenece and the only thing she liked about her features were bright green almond shaped eyes. Many people who didn't know them and saw the two friend together foud it hard to believe they were friends.

Suddenly there was a shriek of excitement from four year old Courtney Barns. "Look!" she squealed, pointing at two rain drenched owls that had jusst come through the open window of the dining room. "Two owls!"

Several things happened at once after that. Victoria paled suddenly and swiftly caught both owls with her hands. Little Courtney after seeming this, started crying and screaming for the them. Some of the children started shouting at Victoria, demandind to know why she had snatched those owls so roughly in the air. Most of the teenagers were yelling animal cruelty and the rest of the children were jumping around, shoutin and generally trying to make as much noise as possible.

"Silience!" Victoria screamed over the hubble of sound. The noise died instantly. "I want you all to go to your rooms until you think you can all behave like mature adults."

Her strict orders were met with moan. "Be quiet! If I hear one more peep from any of you, you shall all be grounded for a week."

Everyone was silent noon dared to make a sound, even the younger ones. They had never seen Victoria act like this before. She was always so cool about most things and a majority of the children thought of her as a friend.

"Well go on, what are you waiting for? Get upstairs" Everbody scanperes uper eager to make sure that they weren't in the receiving end of her anger.

In all the chaos, noone noticed how silent and pale Cassandra had become.


	3. Chapter 2: Rain, tears and mocking birds

_Chapter 2: Rain, tears and mocking birds_

_Harry_

_1985 Little Whinging, Surrey_

_Tap tap tap TAP TAP!!_

"_Boy you have work to do! GET UP!" A woman's voice screeched as she knocked vigorously at a cupboard under the stairs of no. 4 Privet Drive._

_5 years old Harry Potter woke up with a heavy heart. He had being having such a good dream. He tried to remember what had happened but could only remember vaguely seeing sillouhettes of five people. Four men and a woman. Three of the men had being able to turn to animals. A stag, a dog and a rat. Although he couldn't remember their faces he knew that all the five people had being smiling at him with love on their faces. But one of those smiles seemed fake..._

_It took him a while to realise that the screeching woman voice of Petunia Dursley, his aunt. She shouted again for him to get up._

_He slowly got dressed, trying desperately to remember his dream properly. But the more he tried the more he started to forget. It was like trying to keep water from seeping from hands._

_He went to the empty kitchen so he could cook breakfast for his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and 5 year old cousin Dudley. His small hands shook from the weight of the pan where he was frying eggs and bacon._

_By the time he had finished cooking his relatives were already in the kitchen waiting for their food to be served._

_He brought all three plates of egg and bacon to the table very slowly and carefully. His hands, trembling beneath the weight of all the food. He had almost made it to the table when the bark of his uncle Vernon telling him to hurry up made him drop all the plates in a startling crash._

_Vernon Dursley, red on the face and furious with Harry grabbed at his ear and twisted for a long time, finally letting go so that he could shout at him. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?! CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?! WE BROUGHT YOU INTO THIS HOUSE OUT OF THE GOOD OF OUR HEARTS AFTER YOUR DRUNK PARENTS DIED IN A CARCRASH, AND YOU REPAY US BY WASTING OUR FOOD?!!"_

"_I'm sorry." Harry said as he fought the urge to cry. "I didn't me-"_

_He was cut off by Uncle Vernon. "I want you to cook another meal and if you mess this one up too, you'll be staying in the cupboard for a very long time. Have you got that?"_

_Harry gulped and nodded. _

_As he was going back to the kitchen stove to cook another batch of eggs and bacon he glanced at his cousin who was laughing at him and also doing a cruel but accurate impression of Harry's frightened face. Luckily he managed to cook and place the eggs and bacon safely on the table without any trouble even though his Uncle had being breathing down his neck the whole time and in his haste he burnt his hands._

_He hadn't being allowed to eat because his Uncle had said that the food he wasted could be his own portion. So he had to watch the Dursley's eat. It was torture for him._

_When his uncle had finished his breakfast he barked at Harry again. "Boy! My car is dirty; I want you to wash it."_

_Harry looked through the window outside, it was pouring with rain. "It's raining, what the poi-" he broke up when he caught his satisfied smile._

"_Yes?" His uncle asked pleasantly._

"_Nothing." Harry quickly said._

_Harry, before leaving the house picked of the tools required for washing and started cleaning the car in the heavy rain._

_By the time Harry finished washing the car he was cold, wet and starving. He couldn't wait to get back into the warm house even if it was to his cupboard._

_He ran quickly through the front door and into the hallway, careful not to drip water on the floor. He could smell something delicious wafting from the kitchen. He hurried to it. He caught a glimpse of a huge turkey. It was Aunt Petunia cooking, he stared it, his stomach grumbling and his mouth watering._

_Aunt Petunia who had being humming absentmindedly while she set the table had glanced at the doorway to find Harry staring at the food. She quickly became angry. "What are you doing standing there dripping water over the expensive carpet? Come here. I have a chore for you to do." She handed him a ten pound note and a list._

"_What is this" Harry asked. His Aunt had never given him any money before. His spirit soared._

"_I want you to buy me everything on this list from the store down the road." She looked at him suspiciously. "Make sure to bring the receipt so I'll know if you stole any of the change."_

"_Oh." Harry's spirit came crashing down._

"_If I find any money missing from the change, know that you won't be having any lunch or dinner tonight."_

_Harry looked at the delicious lunch that was at the table. He would get to eat it if he completed this one chore. He couldn't wait. He sped out of the kitchen, through the hallway and past the front door of the house into the pouring rain. It was only when he closed the front door that he realised he had forgotten to bring a raincoat. He couldn't go back in or his Aunt might shout and go back on her word so he braved the wet weather._

_Harry had being shopping many times with his aunt and could probably walk to the store that was down the road with his eyes blindfolded. For Harry that is what it felt like. He couldn't see properly as the wind and rain swept past his glasses blurring it. It was a miracle that he managed to make it to the store safely without being hit by a car._

_It had being a very boring day for the shopkeeper of the store. Many people were not bothered to go outside in the heavy rain and as a result the store had being almost empty the whole day._

_The shopkeeper was taking his millionth yawn of the day when he got the surprised of his life when a rain drenched Harry ran into the store. _

_Harry shook his wet hair from his hair and ambled to the shopkeeper's desk. He took out his now wet list and ten pound note that his aunt had given him "Can you help this list, please? I can't read properly yet." Harry asked shyly as he held out the list for the shopkeeper to read._

_The shopkeeper recognising poor Harry from the times he had followed his horrible aunt to the store took pity on him and read out loud the items on the list (which turned out to be groceries)._

_Soon Harry had everything he needed from the list and had paid the shopkeeper the ten pound note proudly and was just about to leave the store when the shopkeeper's voice stopped him. "Do you want your receipt?" The shopkeeper asked politely._

_Harry, horrified that he almost forgot about the receipt stammered a thank you to the shopkeeper and left the store vowing to keep the receipt as safe as possible._

_Leaving the store, Harry noticed that the wind was blowing even harder than before and clutched the receipt tighter in his hands. _

_He was hurrying home excited that he had done something right when he tripped on rock that was lying on the pavement. He fell with a hard bang, cracking his glasses and his small hands let go of the receipt which went fluttering away in the wind._

"_Oh no." Harry said as he watched the receipt flutter away into the direction of the wind. He got up painfully and quickly ran to it. He had finally caught the receipt when realised that he was standing in the road._

_It was too late to run; a car was hurtling to him at a frightening speed. He stood there paralysed; he couldn't move he could only stare helplessly at the uncontrollable car, wishing with all his heart for the car to stop. _

_Unexpectedly the car stopped just a centimetre away from hitting him. The car driver's face was the one of shock and wonder. The driver didn't move from the car for a long time then suddenly got out of the car walked to Harry and started screaming obscenities at him._

_Harry was very scared. He knew that the driver was blaming him for the accident but he couldn't understand many of the words that was coming out of the drivers mouth. He did the first thing he could think of and ran as fast as he could from the driver and his car._

_Harry was very relieved when he knocked on the door of no. 4 Privet Drive. He was he was soaking wet and shivering but he was very happy. He still had the receipt clutched in his hands._

_The door opened to a very cross Aunt Petunia. She looked disdainfully up and down at a wet Harry and pulled him swiftly into the house and dragged him to the kitchen._

_Harry brandished the receipt and the bag of groceries proudly and showed them to his Aunt._

_His Aunt didn't seem to be looking. She was talking to herself. "What were you doing looking like a drowned rat in the middle of the street? The neighbours could have seen you. Oh my word what if the neighbours did see you. What would they think?" Aunt Petunia seemed ready to faint. _

_She glanced at Harry again and seemed to realise that he was there. "What is that?" She pointed at the things in Harry's hands._

"_That's what you told me to buy." _

"_Is it?" Aunt Petunia distastefully took the plastic bag of groceries of him as if it was an object from a rubbish bin. "Where is the receipt and change." _

"_It's right here." He was giving the receipt and change to his Aunt when his tummy grumbled. He couldn't wait any longer he was really hungry. "Can I eat lunch now?"_

_His aunt looked at the wet receipt closely and counted the change carefully for what seemed like eternity before she looked at him again. "Fine here's your food. Don't come asking me for anything again." In her hands on a plate was a small piece of stale bread and an even smaller piece of cheese._

"_What is this?" He couldn't believe what was happening._

"_It's you lunch."_

"_But what about the food you were serving before? I thought I was going to eat that."_

_Aunt Petunia laughed. "Oh, you stupid boy. That lunch was for Uncle Vernon congratulatory lunch. He just got a promotion. Besides the foods all gone now."_

_Harry didn't know what to say. He was so shocked and so angry and so sad. He knew that if he spoke now that he would start shouting at his Aunt Petunia so he kept quiet and accepted the plate of bread and cheese in silence._

_Later that day when he was safely in his cupboard he broke down and cried. Thick fat tears spilled down his face. He tried but couldn't stop crying. He remembered a song that he had heard mothers sing to the children at school when they were crying so he sang it to himself. "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird..." _

_He sang this song all through the night and as he fell asleep her vowed not to ever trust the Dursley's again. _

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Ginny_

_1985 Ottery St Catchpole, Devon_

"_Ginny! Wake up! It's time for breakfast!" Ginny's Mum voice shouted from the kitchen of the Burrow._

_4 year old Ginerva Weasley woke up instantly. She quickly got up from her bed and sprinted down the stairs to the kitchen. She was very excited. Her father was taking her brothers out for a trip to the Ministry of Magic to see where he worked. She wasn't supposed to be allowed to come but she knew that if she begged hard enough her father would give in. It had to work, she was using her secret weapon; her puppy dog eyes._

_In the kitchen already seated at a table were her brother Percy and her father. Her mother was cooking another batch of breakfast for her brothers._

"Mornin'_ Percy, mornin' Mum, mornin' Daddy." She greeted her father with a blinding smile._

_Arthur Weasley looked over from his newspaper and breakfast. "Good Morning, sweetheart."_

"_Where are you going this morning?" Ginny asked innocently._

"_To work of course. You know that."_

"_Do you know where my brothers are going this morning?"_

"_To the Ministry with me. I thought you knew this already."_

"_Oh, it's going to be so lonely staying here by myself. Can I come with you to the Ministry?" She used her full force of her puppy dog eyes and for a good measure she fluttered her eyelashes._

"_We-ll if you really want come you can." Arthur Weasley said._

_Yes! It had worked. She would finally be able to do the same thing her brother's could do._

"_Oh no you can't." Molly Weasley glared at her husband. She had been listening to the conversation going on between her husband and her daughter with half an ear while she busily prepared breakfast for the rest of the family. "We discussed this remember. The Ministry is no place for a young girl."_

"_Couldn't we for once try to-" He broke off when he caught the look on his wife's face. "Never mind. I agree with you."_

_Moll Weasley smiled looking pleased._

_It was so not fair. Why did her Dad have to take mum's side in everything? Couldn't he for once take her side?_

_Ginny heard a loud yawn coming from up stairs. It signalled the waking up of her brothers. And soon enough her brothers' Ron, Fred and George ambled down the staircase._

"_Mornin'." They greeted everybody sleepily_

"_What for breakfast Mum?" Ron asked while yawning. "I'm starving."_

"_Eggs and sausages dear." Mrs Weasley said as she handed a whole plate of eggs and sausages that was piled with eggs._

"_Mmm, thanks mum." Ron said while wolfing down the breakfast fast as he could. "But what's all this for?"_

"_You have to have a big meal for your trip to the Ministry."_

"_Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He wolfed down more food. "What are we going to be doing in the Ministry?" He directed this question at his dad._

"_Oh I'm not sure" Mr Weasley said. "Probably just staying in my office seeing how it works."_

_Fred and George groaned. _

"_How are we supposed to have fun." said one of the twins._

"_Yeah, how are we going to annoy posh pureblood Ministry people if we have to stay in dad's office for all day." said the other._

"_You will not misbehave when you go to the Ministry today." Molly Weasley ordered with a stern look. "Today's a treat, so treat it like one."_

"_Sure Mum." Fred and George chorused. But as soon as their Mums back was turned they started whispering at each other._

_Ginny who had being watching this whole scene was fuming. How could Ron have forgotten about the Ministry trip? Fred and George would probably play pranks for the whole day and still Mum let them go. Why wouldn't Mum let her go to the Ministry? She had to give persuading her father and mother to let her go to the Ministry another try._

"_Mummy, Daddy, please let me go to the Ministry with my brothers." Ginny pleaded. "I really, really, really want to go. I won't do anything bad and I'll be really silent and I won't bother you. So plleeeaaassssee can I go?"_

_Molly Weasley hesitated for a moment then a firm look came into her eyes. "I'm sorry dear, but you're too young to go to the Ministry and that's final."_

_Arthur Weasley looked at his watch. "It's time to be going now or we'll be late."_

_Helplessly Ginny watched her brothers as they left to the Ministry with floo powder._

"_It was so not fair!" Ginny shouted at her Mother. Why are my brothers allowed to do whatever they want! They even get to go to the stinking Ministry. She kicked hard against the kitchen table in anger. She instantly regreted the action. _

"_Ow!" She cried out in pain._

_Immediately her Mum was by her side checking the injury. Ginny pulled from her mother's grasp. "Leave me alone! I hate you! Why couldn't I have just been a boy?"_

_Tears sprang out of her eyes as she limped all the to her bedroom. As soon as she was in the safety of her room she held her foot up against her bed to inspect it. Her foot hadn't been cut but it looked severely bruised and was already starting to turn purple._

_Just my luck. She though bitterly. This gave her brothers another reason to treat her as if she was made of glass._

_Ugh! She hated it when her brothers treated her that way. It was just because she was a girl. She hated the word girl. Why hadn't her mum made her a boy like the rest of her brothers? Why did she have to be the only daughter in the family? Think of all the things she would have been allowed to do. Like climb up trees with the rest of her brothers instead of not being allowed because she had to wear dresses or be allowed once on a broom or maybe even allowed to go to town were the muggles lived with her brothers Bill and Charlie who were in Hogwarts. She wasn't allowed to do any of these things because she was a girl. A horrible though occurred to her. What if she wasn't allowed at Hogwarts because she was a girl? That would be dreadful._

_Ginny spent the rest of the day roaming restlessly around the house. She couldn't go outside because it was raining. So it was harder to avoid her mother. She had being staring pointedly at her house clock which had her brother's name on it when they suddenly moved from work to journey and soon enough it said home._

_She rushed as fast as she could with a limp to greet her brothers. "You're home! How was the Ministry? Was it fun?"_

_Fred, George and Ron all groaned._

"_I feel sick I don't want to talk about it." Ron moaned. He walked away looking very grey._

"_It was the most boring day ever." said one of the twins. Ginny couldn't tell them apart unless she was told who they were._

"_Yeah, it's a wonder we didn't die from boredom." Added the other twin_

"_I don't know what you're talking about." Percy argued. "I thought it was a positively enlightening experience."_

"_Sure you did." Said one of the twins. "That's why I didn't see you falling asleep before._

_Percy blushed. "It might have been a tad boring."_

"_A tad boring, more like a lot." said the other twin,_

_Ginny wanted to know more. "How's the Ministry like, did you explore it."_

"_Dad tried to lock us in his office."_

"_But we managed to escape."_

"_How did you do that?" Ginny asked._

_The twins looked at each other guiltily. "Doesn't matter." said one of the twins hurriedly._

"_All you need to know is that we managed to annoy a lot of posh purebloods in the Ministry, especially the Malfoy's." added the other._

_The twins hurried away to their bedroom probably to plan a brilliant scheme._

_It was only her and Percy left. "Was it really that boring?" She asked Percy._

_Percy looked uncomfortable. "It was okay. But I think you're lucky you didn't come. I've got to tell Mum that Dad's going to be late \today." Percy hurried away too. He didn't like badmouthing the Ministry._

_In the evening when Ginny was going to bed, her mother popped her head into Ginny's room._

"_Can I come in?" She asked hesitantly._

"_Okay." Ginny said guiltily._

_Mrs Weasley walked into Ginny's room and sat in a chair on her bed._

_Ginny looked at her mother earnestly "I'm sorry I said all those mean things to you this morning. I didn't mean any of them. I was just so angry."_

"_I know you didn't mean anything from it. Now do you want me to fix your leg or not." Mrs Weasley said promptly._

_Ginny held up her foot for her Mum to heal. "Thanks Mum."_

_With a few taps of her wand Mrs Weasley healed her bruised foot. "No problem." She stood up to leave._

"_Mum." Ginny called to stop her Mum. "Can you sing me a song to help me sleep?"_

"_Which one." asked Mrs Weasley?_

"_The one about the Mocking Bird."_

"_Alright then, here I go." Mrs Weasley started to sing. "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird..."_

_Mrs Weasley sang until she was sure that Ginny was asleep. As she was about to leave her bedroom she heard the small sleepy voice of her daughter speak._

"_Mum, I think I prefer to be a girl, I can hang out with you way more than the boys can." With that said Ginny Weasley promptly fell asleep._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

**A/N: Wow! That was a long one. It took ages to write but finally it's finished Sorry if the breakfast scenes came out all wrong. I don't really know what their supposed to eat for breakfast. Please R&R.**


	4. Chapter 3: Discussions

Chapter 3: Discussions

Lily woke up early the next day with heavy eyelids but a determined mind. She had stayed up late for nearly the whole night, talking with the rest of her roommates about Victoria's reaction to the owls. Many theories had been thought up for the reason of Victoria's reaction each one more far-fetched than the other.

They couldn't leave the house through the front door and every time they try to sneak outside through the windows, Victoria caught them. So it was out of desperate boredom that her and her roommates had started the talks.

It was time to confront Victoria about her unfairness of her actions. Most of her roommates were still asleep so she sneaked out of her bedroom and knocked quietly on her friend, Cassandra's room.

She didn't have to wait long. Cassandra opened her door almost as soon as she had knocked.

"Are you sick?" Lily gasped. Cassandra looked it. Her skin was very pale and yellowy and she had deep purple eye bags under her eyes.

Cassandra didn't reply until a minute later. "I'm fine, just sleepy." She paused. "Why did you wake me up so early?"

"If you`re sleepy you can just go back to bed." Lily said in concernment. "I just wanted to talk to Victoria about her overreaction plus I don't think she's made any arrangements for my own room yet."

Suddenly Cassandra looked very alert. "I'm coming with you."

"But you look si-"

"It doesn't matter, I'm coming with you."

They tiptoed conspicuously down the stairs towards Victoria's bedroom trying to make as little noise as possible as it was very early in the morning. Most people including Victoria would probably be asleep.

"Wait, I hear people." Cassandra hissed suddenly

Lily listened hard. There were muffled voices of two people arguing were coming from Victoria's office which was opposite her bedroom.

"There are two people in there." Cassandra whispered. "That means Victoria is talking to someone. Why would she have a visitor around this time of day?"

"Let's go and find out." Lily whispered back.

They walked to the door of Victoria's office and as they were about to open it they heard something that made Lily's curiosity go wild and Cassandra's blood run cold.

"-mission to let Cassandra and Lily go to this school." It was an angry and frazzled Victoria that was talking. "I don't trust the witches and wizards to take care of two Muggle-borns. Especially if they're one of mine. I knew many people who died because they were asked to join the school."

"That was over 10 years ago." Another voice was talking. It was a much calmer female voice that was clear and precise. "The Second war is over. Muggle-borns are not targeted any more. Besides I won't call one of the children a muggle-born. She's a Lestrange."

Lily was very confused by this for real? Wizards, witches and _Muggle-borns_. They must be joking. She looked at Cassandra expecting to see her smiling jokingly but was surprised that instead Cassandra was listening intently to the conversation with a frown marring her pale face.

"Don't you think I already know that?" Victoria demanded. "I don't want her to be corrupted by the pure-blood society at only 11 years old. I don't want them to go to Hogwarts and that's final!" She sprung open her office door to let the man out and got a suprise of her life when she saw the two subjects of her conversation tumble into her office.

"How much did you hear?" Victoria asked with a frightening expression on her face.

Lily couldn't speak. She was still to shocked about the whole thing.

Cassandra was the one that spoke with a cool expression on her face. "Enough to know what you're talking about and I agree with your decision. We don't want to go to Hogwarts. Come on Lily, let's go."

She tried to drag Lily away but Lily didn't move. "Hang on, what are you guys talking about?"

The woman who had been having a conversation with Victoria before was still in the room had been watching the exchange thoughtfully and decided that it was time to butt in. "Excuse me if I may but I think this girl has a right to know about her powers." She spoke to Victoria while pointing at Lily.

Victoria stared at Lily for a long time and sighed. It was time the girl knew about the wizarding world. "Come, sit down. I have a lot to talk to you about." She motioned for Lily and Cassandra to sit in one of numerous chairs that dotted her office.

Lily sat down quickly eager for the talk to begin. Cassandra instead stayed standing up. "I don't want to hear it. I've already made my decision. I'm not going."

Lily looked at Cassandra questioningly. "What are you talking about? Where are you not going?"

"You'll find out yourself." With that Cassandra stomped out of the office.

Lily felt uncomfortable. She wanted to run straight after Cassandra and ask her about her behaviour but she couldn't until she found out about what they were talking about. She waited impatiently for to begin.

Victoria sighed then stared pointedly at the other woman in the office to start.

The woman smiled pleasantly at Victoria then looked at Lily. "I am Professor Hermione Weasley. I am the Transfiguration professor and also the Muggle-born co-ordinator of Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry." The woman then preceded to hand Lily a thick yellowy envelope from her pockets with an address written on it

She looked at the envelope curiously. What could be so exciting about a letter? Though she thought the preciseness of the envelope was odd and. It read:

**Lily L. Sutton,**

**Third Bedroom**

**First Bed**

**St Magdalene's Orphanage **

**Southwark**

**London**

Lily turned the envelope over. The envelope bore a wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding the letter 'H'. With her curiosity burning she opened the envelope. Inside it was also yellowish parchment and read it:

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

**Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall**

**Dear Miss Sutton,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have a place in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books. Term begins at 1 September. We await your owl no later than 31 July.**

**Yours sincerely,**

**Neville Longbottom, Deputy Headmaster**

So many questions exploded in Lily mind, she didn't know which one to ask first. After a few moments she choked out. "What does this all mean?"

The woman smiled at her. "It means you're a witch. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever made things happen when you were scared or angry...?"

"So... me and Cassandra are muggle-born witches." Lily surmised slowly.

For over an hour the professor from the school had been telling Lily about magic, the wizarding world and Hogwarts. It took a long time for Lily to wrap the concepts of what the woman had been telling her. What was even more unbelievable was the fact that the woman was a witch. She didn't act or look like the ones she heard about in books. The woman was young with thick bushy hair that was pulled in a tight ponytail and dark brown steely eyes. The woman was very precise and orderly when she told her about the wizarding world.

"Something like that." The woman rose up. "It's time for me to go. I'll come back at July 30th to take you to Diagon Alley and to buy the supplies needed for school." She tapped her wand on her palm and another envelope appeared on it. She handed it to Lily. "Please, can you give this to your friend? In case she changes her mind."

The woman then advanced to the door of Victoria's office. She stopped as she was about to open it then turned around to talk to Victoria. "Oh, I forgot. My apologies for misunderstanding. We assumed since there was an over-age witch living in this residence that it was safe to send an owl."

She waited for Victoria to reply but when she didn't the woman sighed then left. A moment later Lily thought she heard a faint pop.

Lily soon left. She couldn't stand the awkward silence between her and Victoria. She wandered aimlessly through the house trying to remember something that had been nagging on her brain since she had found out about witches and wizards. It was around four years ago at night when her and Cassandra were only seven years old. They had been telling each other stories trying to see who could come up with the best one. A story that Cassandra had told particularly stuck in her brain.

"_Years ago there was a baby named... Harry Potter. This baby was a special baby; this baby was a... wizard." Cassandra drew some of the words out so to create more apprehension but was disappointed when she only got a yawn and a lazy grin from Lily. She carried on. "The baby was even more special because this baby had defeated the most evil wizard of all time his name was... Dark Lord"_

_This time Lily giggled. "Very imaginative name for any evil wizard. Is that all you can come up with, it's pretty easy to tell what happens next. Let me guess, the wizard comes back and Harry Potter defeats him again."_

"_No- I mean yes that happens but lots of stuff happens on the way. Now do you want me to tell you the story or not!"_

_Lily giggled again. "I'm sorry carry on."_

"_Before the baby had defeated the evil wizard the evil wizard had killed his parents so little Harry was an orphan. Wanting to keep Harry safe some people sent him to his-"_

"_Let me guess, the baby gets sent to an orphanage." Lily rolled her eyes._

"_Stop interrupting my story." Cassandra was very put out. "Next time you do I'm stopping the story." She continued. "Harry was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who were very mean to him. They never let him have anything and they treated his cousin better than him just to spite him. Harry didn't find out he was a wiz-"_

_Cassandra was interrupted by a loud snort. Lily couldn't stop herself. She had been trying desperately to keep from giggling but it had been to much for her. The story was very Cinderella like and she kept thinking a fairy godmother or a step-sister would pop in any minute. She caught the anger on Cassandra's face and tried to stop giggling. "I'm… sorry." She said between giggle. "I... didn't... mean to. I... can't help myself Cassie. The story is too much like ...Cinderella._

_Cassandra glared at her. "That's it. I'm not telling you the story any more goodnight."_

Cassandra never told her what happened in the end of the story no matter how much Lily begged and she had been angry at Lily for the whole day. If Cassandra knew about that story didn't that mean Cassandra knew she was a witch for years? No, that couldn't be true; she and Cassandra had been best friends since as long as she could remember. Cassandra would have told her that she was a witch if she had known. Still she couldn't quite quell the uneasy feeling within her. Cassandra was one of the longest orphan to live St Magdalene's Orphanage only coming in second after her. She had come about three months after Lily and they had hit it off from their first meeting or so Victoria said. The only difference between Cassandra's and Lily's case was that Cassandra received letters from her relatives. Lily asked her once if she received those letters from her parents. Cassandra had replied that her parents were dead.

Before she realised it she was in outside Cassandra's bedroom. She had walked in unconsciously as she always did when she was upset. She was about to leave when she decided that she would confront Cassandra about her knowledge of witches and wizards.

She knew Cassandra would probably be sulking so knocked loudly on the door so not to give Cassandra an excuse to say why she hadn't answered the door.

After a long moment Cassandra opened the door by a creak. She looked better than she had earlier in the morning. She stared pointedly at Lily making sure that her body blocked entry to her room. "You knocked. What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you Cassie. Can I come in?" Lily asked pleadingly

Cassandra stared at Lily for a long time she mumbled something incomprehensible then slowly opened the door wider than the tiny fraction it had been earlier. "What do you want?" Cassandra repeated as soon as Lily was inside her bedroom.

"I want to know why you don't want to go to Hogwarts." I also want to know if you had any knowledge of witches or wizards before all this happened she added silently.

Cassandra shrugged restlessly. "I don't know I just don't trust witches or wizards."

For a second Lily thought she saw fear flicker in her face but before she could blink it was gone and quickly replaced by annoyance. From that she knew she couldn't' ask Cassandra about her knowledge. She must have been keeping it a secret for a good reason

"Are you really going to this wizard school?" Cassandra asked while silently pleading with her eyes for Lily to say no.

"Yes I am." Lily answered matter of factly. "And I really wish you'll come with me, please. It won't be any fun without you."

Cassandra was quiet for a long time. She knew it would be better for both of them if she said she wouldn't go to Hogwarts with her but she wanted to be with Lily. "Alright I'll think about it. But don't get your hopes high." she warned

Lily squealed then hugged Cassandra tightly. "Thank you."

Cassandra returned the hug making sure to hide her face from Lily so she would not see her cry.

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**A/N: Finished the chapter. Sorry it took so long. I had writer's block half-way through the chapter but I finished it. Yay! I took a lot of parts from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. See if you notice any of the parts. Sorry if the address isn't correct I just got a random place in London. Please R&R.**


	5. Chapter 4: The Meeting

_Chapter 4: The Meeting_

_Harry_

_1986, Little Whinging, Surrey_

"might_ as well get prepared to go to bed hungry again." 6 year old Harry Potter grumbled as he walked drudgedly down a street. His Aunt and Uncle had practically thrown him of their house, telling him not to come back until dinner time. How was he supposed know when it was dinner time? He didn't have a watch and he could hardly tell the time by the position of the sun. He knew that if he came back a minute early or late his Aunt would use that as an excuse to not give him dinner. _

_He strolled aimlessly through countless streets not really looking at where he was going. His mind solely on the thought of food. His mouth watered as he contemplated all the great food he would have eaten if he didn't live with his aunt and uncle. So it came to a great shock to find himself near a park that he knew that by walking was more than an hour away from his house. _

_Harry decided to enter the park for a bit of exploring. He was in a mood to do something stupid and silly and he was bored enough to enter an old abandoned empty park that he heard his aunt warn Dudley about._

_A few years ago the council had tried to restore the park to its rightful glory but any time they added items to spice up the place it was vandalised and graffitied by bored hoodlums. After a few frustrating months the council had given up in defeat. The only remnants of the council's failed restoration was a rusty heavily graffittied swing set which was twisted almost beyond recognisation, some residual monkey bars -that were very sharp and easy to trip on as Harry soon found out- that now littered the park, a sandbox that he thought smelled suspiciously like pee when he walked too close to it and grossly deformed patch of black, dried out flowers that looked like it had definitely seen better days. Adding to all this was an enormous amount of litter that had been dropped careless by passerbies. _

_As Harry walked through the park he couldn't help feeling a surge of pity for the council and their failed attempt and also he realised for the park itself. He remembered a conversation his Aunt and Uncle had had a while ago about the park. What once used to be a park bustling with activity and children excited laughs had been turned to a center for gangs when the council wanted it back the gangs had been very determined of having ownership of the park. But even the gangs fled the park when it had been trashed to disrepair._

_Harry had been walking steadily through the park when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks it was a red haired girl who had been crying silently as she sat under an old gnarly tree in front of him._

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_Ginny_

_1986, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon_

_5 year old Ginny Weasley had finally made up her mind. Today had to be the most boring day of her short life. _

_Her and her mother had done a whole day of shopping in town. They had gone through countless shops, seen countless merchandise and bought countless items until her feet were so sore that she thought that if she had to walk any longer she would faint of exhaustion. _

_She probably wouldn't have minded as much if she had been allowed to explore the place a bit but her mother had been holding her hand ever since she had told Ginny that they would be going into town today. _

_Understandably she had been very excited to find out for the first time that she would be able to go with her mother out shopping. The reason for this being that her mum trusted Bill and Charlie (who had come home for Christmas Holidays) wholesomely to take care her brothers, but couldn't trust them enough to keep the twins from playing pranks on little Ginny. The twins had recently brought their mischievousness and pranks up a notch but Ginny wasn't scared, she could take care of herself very well and none of her brothers' silly pranks could do anything bad to her._

_Her mother had brought her promises of magic and adventure but instead she had to go to boring old muggle shops. To think that she had once thought that going to town was very exciting. Oh how wrong she was._

"_I've finished getting everything I need from the muggle shops. We're going to go back home to see how things are doing then we will go to Diagon Alley." Mrs Weasley said as she juggled numerous shopping bags in her hands._

_Ginny instantly perked up. 'Finally,' she thought. 'something exciting.' To Ginny it felt like forever before they made it home. To Ginny's relief everything seemed fine at home. Fred and George we're locked in their room probably trying to think up more pranks. As soon as Mrs Weasley dropped of the shopping bags Ginny and her managed to use to the Floo without an itch. She made sure she called out Diagon Alley clearly just like her mother had taught her. _

_She made it to the Leaky Cauldron without any problems to find her mother waiting with a look of poorly disguised relief on her face but also a hint of pride. Her mother held her hand tightly and went to talk to the bar manger whose name was Tom. Her mother soon started a conversation with him about the rising prices in the Wizarding World. _

_Ginny was very impatient. She wanted to go into Diagon Alley as quickly as possible. She looked around wandering if there was a way to pass her time when she noticed a closed black door. She had always seen the door closed the few times she had been to the Leaky Cauldron but she had never been allowed to walk through it._

_Ginny noticed her mother's hands were slipping as she talked more and more to the Tom. This was her chance to open the door and se what was inside of it that made it more mysterious. She slowly eased out of her mother's hands walked to the door carefully, so not to draw attention to herself and opened it._

_What she saw amazed to her beyond anything she had ever seen. There were lots and lots of people, everywhere. They were walking quickly on the streets not seeming to want to stop. They were dressed like the muggles she saw back in town but they looked so smart. Some of them drove the muggle machine on a long road that she had seen her dad tinker with in the shed. There were tall buildings that seemed to stretch to the sky. Ginny wondered how it could have been made to be so tall and her only answer was magic. _

_This was like nothing she had ever seen before and she knew without a doubt she had to see more. She walked slowly down the street, soaking in the sights. The time passed for her in a blink of an eye but what was really hours. She didn't realise that she was lost until there were less and less people on the street._

_She started to panic. She searched wildly for the door that she'd came from. She couldn't find it. She had lost her way home. How would she find her mummy and how would her mummy find her. She had heard stories of girls who became lost. If they couldn't get home before night time vampires and werewolves would come and gobble them up._

_She started sobbing. She didn't want to be eaten by a werewolf or a vampire. She wanted to be safe in her mummy and daddy arms. She looked at the sky, it was getting dark. She once heard her brothers saying something about seeking shelter in a tree. Maybe it protected her from werewolves and vampires. She searched for a big tree and spotted one near an old park. _

_She wrinkled her nose. She didn't really want to go into an old park that smelt. She was just about to walk past it when she heard a loud howl. _

_Ginny gulped. She sprinted to the park and crouched down under the tree. As she thought of never seeing her mother and father again she started to cry._

XxXxXxXxXxXx

_Harry stared at the crying girl dumbly. He didn't know what to do; he had never really being confronted with a crying girl before. The teacher was always the one that dealt with the girls that cried in his school. He knew that he could just walk away and ignore the girl but if felt an unexplainable urge to comfort her._

_He steadied himself and tried to walk over to the girl as assuredly as possible. He stared at her for a long while and when she didn't seem to notice that he was there, cleared his throat._

_The red haired looked up, startled to see him. She didn't say anything. She just stared, her mouth which was wide open trembled slightly and her wide chocolate brown eyes gazed at him with fear clear in her girl got quickly to her feet. _

_"What are you?" She asked Harry, her whole body trembled. "a vampire or a werewolf."_

_Harry first thought was to laugh but he stopped as he took note of the girl's trembling body and realised the girl actually believed in vampires and werewolves and was really scared. _

_Harry had not believed in mythical creatures or monster since he was five years old and asked his aunt and uncle why other kids from his class got presents from Father Christmas and he didn't. His aunt and uncle had told him, with a nasty smile on their faces that it was because he was a bad boy. He didn't believe them he knew that Dudley behaved more badly than him. So researched as best as a five year could and found out that Father Christmas wasn't real._

"_Vampires and werewolves aren't real." Harry said matter-of-factly_

"_Yes they are." The girl said with belief in every syllable. "And your one of them. Don't try and deny it. I'm sure. If you eat me my mummy will use her magic and va- vaqui- vanquish you" she struggled to remember the long word._

"_I'm not a vampire or a werewolf. I came here because you were crying but since you think I am. I'll just leave." Harry turned his head and was about to walk away. The girls voice and the fact the she tugged him back by holding a bunch of an oversized hand me down, stopped him from leaving._

"_Please stay." She begged "I'm scared."_

_Harry couldn't say no. This was the first time someone had ever asked him to stay in the same place as him. He might have found his first friend._

_"Okay. I'll stay just for a bit."_

_The girl looked relieved. "Thank you." She stopped and thought for a moment. "Hello, my name is Ginny what's yours?"_

_"My name's Harry."_

_Harry sat down with the girl and they talked and talked till it was dark and the stars and moon shone in the sky. They both avoided talk about their parents. Harry's reason being that his parents were dead and Ginny's reason being that she truly thought that she would never see her parents again._

_Ginny found out that Harry lived with his spoilt rotten cousin and he hated it there. He was bullied and punched by his cousin Dudley and his mates. But one day he vowed to run away from Dudley's house and when he came back he would properly be able to stand up for himself. He didn't have any friends and he was glad that Ginny would be his first._

_Harry found out that Ginny had six other brothers and she was the only girl in her family. Ginny thought her brothers treated her like glass and they never let her do anything she wanted. They were all very mean, rude and ugly (except for Billy) and they thought they were good at everything. But she knew better. When she became a grownup she would become the greatest sports player in the world and marry the greatest guy in the world._

_It was getting really cold and both of them only had thin jacket to caver them. They stopped talking because they were so cold and huddled together to keep warm. They were like that for some time and Harry could feel that Ginny was falling asleep. Her head tilted towards him and her eyes started to close she breathed deeply and squealed-?_

_"Mummy!" she jumped suddenly and started pointing at a plump figure in the darkness. "It's mummy." She raced towards the figure and hugged the figure tightly._

_Harry followed more slowly and cautiously behind her and he was relieved to see that the woman that Ginny hugged looked very much like her daughter. He stayed quite a long way from them to give them privacy but could still hear snippets of the conversation._

"_-gave me quite a scare. I thought I lost you forever. Good thing I kept my wits about me and used this." The woman held up a wooden stick. "How many times have I told you not to let go of my hands when we go out." She looked at Ginny sternly._

_Harry could hear Ginny sobbing. "I'm sorry mummy. I was so scared. I'll never do it again, as long as I live. I promise."_

_Harry thought he heard a sob from her mother. "I hope you won't." They stayed like this for a long time. Harry was happy that Ginny had found her mother but also jealous as he observed the mother daughter relationship._

_Ginny's mother finally took her eyes of Ginny and glanced at Harry. She was surprised and concerned to see him there. She went over to him with Ginny locked tightly in her arms. "It's a bit dark and cold for a young boy to be here. Where are your parents?" _

_Harry felt uncomfortable he didn't really want to explain the reason why his Aunt and Uncle kicked him out so he stayed silent._

_Luckily Ginny, sensing his uncomfortableness helped him out. "He's my friend mummy. He found me here. At first I thought he was a werewolf or a vampire but turns out he's a normal boy. We talked for ages and he's only a year older than me. We decided that we would be best friends from now on. Didn't we Harry?"_

"_Yes we did." Harry answered shyly._

_Ginny's mother held up her arm to shake and looked at Harry curiously. A light dawned on her face as if she realised something that had been nagging in her brain._

_Harry took the hand and shook it politely._

"_I'm Molly Weasley, Ginny mother as you probably already are your carers? Are they going to pick you up?"_

_Harry was starting to look increasingly uncomfortable. "No I was supposed to be home hours ago."_

"_goodness me? They are probably worried sick wondering where you are." Mrs Weasley looked worried herself. "If you don't mind I help you get home. The dark is no place for a young boy like you."_

_Harry tried to argue his way out of it. "It's okay, I can walk home myself. I've done it lots of times."_

"_Nonsense. It's the least I can do since it's my Ginny's fault that you stayed with her for a long time. Now where do you live, I'll follow you home." She held out her hand that wasn't holding Ginny' to take and waited expectantly._

_Harry nodded a thank you miserably and hesitantly took her hand. Instantly he felt a cool warmth wash over him. He felt slightly better about leading Ginny's mother to his house._

_They walked for quite a long time in silence until they made it to No. 4 Privet Drive. Harry let go of Mrs Weasley's hands quickly and sped to the steps. _

_Mrs Weasley followed him and him to the steps and was about to knock on the door when Harry stopped her. _

"_It's okay, this is my house. Thank you for bringing me back can go now. Please." Harry pleaded. He had a nasty feeling the Dursley wouldn't like Mrs Weasley or Ginny._

_Mrs Weasley was about to say no when she caught the pleading look in his eye and instantly changed her mind. "Okay. I hope you make it into your house safely."_

_Harry looked hugely relieved. He waved goodbye to Mrs Weasley and her daughters as they left. "Byyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeee." squealed Ginny as she turned around to face him one last time._

"_Bye Ginny." Harry said softly as he waved goodbye._

_He knocked on the door of his house and pretty soon. He was allowed in with a telling off for coming so late that he couldn't wash the dishes. _

_Harry wasn't allowed to eat dinner that night but he didn't mind. He had made his first friend._

XxXxXxXxXxXx

_Mrs Weasley breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Harry enter his home. She had stood a distance away from his house so that she knew that he had made it home safely._

_It was time for her to home too. It had being a long day. She clutched Ginny's hand tightly. "We're going to apparate home okay Ginny." she warned._

_Ginny nodded with a determined look in her eye. They left little Whinging and apparated a little way in front of their house._

_They walked quietly home. In Ginny's case because she was sleepy and in Mrs Weasley's because she was contemplating the events that took forward that day._

_When the made it home the whole family rushed to them making loud noises. They had all being worried about Ginny but Mrs Weasley shushed them. Ginny was practically half asleep and it was well past her bedtime. _

_Mrs Weasley picked her up and led her to her room. With no little work for Ginny was getting bigger and bigger every year. By the time she laid Ginny on her bed and transfigured her clothes to a dressing gown Mrs Weasley was exhausted._

_It was then that Ginny decided to open her eyes. "Mummy, I didn't tell Harry about the Wizarding World. I remembered what you said about keeping quiet about magic with muggles. It was so hard. I really, really wanted to tell him about magic since he's my first friend."_

_Mrs Weasley smiled at her knowingly. "Maybe one day you will."_

_Ginny smiled sleepily. "I'd like that... Mummy, can you tell me a story?"_

_Mrs Weasley sighed. "Okay, which on?"_

"_The one when Harry Potter defeated You-know-who._

_Mrs Weasley moaned silently. Ginny asked to be told that story almost very started the story. "Harry Potter was just one year old when the You-know-who came to his house..."_

"_I'm going to marry Harry Potter you know." exclaimed Ginny when Mrs Weasley finished the story. She took out her Harry Potter doll and started stroking it. It was a doll of a baby Harry Potter. No one had being able to take a decent picture of Harry Potter since he had defeated so not a lot of people really knew how Harry Potter really looked like._

_All Mrs Weasley did was continue to smile knowingly. She stood up. "Goodnight Ginny. It's well past your bedtime."_

_So Ginny Weasley went to bed tired but warm with thoughts of Harry Potter and her new friend Harry in her head._

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**A/N: Another finished. I'll really appreciate your comments wether good or bad so PLEASE READ AND REAVIEW.**


	6. Chapter 5: Diagon Alley

Chapter 5: Diagon Alley

On the 30th July Lily woke up early in the morning feeling very excited. Today was the day that Professor Weasley from Hogwarts would come to take Cassandra and her out for a day in the wizarding world.

She got dressed quickly, making sure to choose one of her best clothes and ran to Cassandra's bedroom.

Cassandra was already awake so she didn't have to wait long for her to answer the door.

"Morning." Cassandra greeted sullenly.

"Good Morning to you too, Cassie." Lily greeted back with a grin on her face. "Aren't you excited? We'll finally be able to see how the wizarding world is. I've being waiting for this day for months now."

Cassandra didn't respond.

Lily frowned. Ever since the professor had given them their Hogwarts letter Cassandra had being very moody. She tried many things to make her get back to her spirits but nothing seemed to work. She'd even tried to get a rise out of her by calling her sneaky and suspicious but even that didn't work.

Lily's stomach grumbled loudly. "Ugh, I'm starving, let's go and eat breakfast."

She dragged an unwilling and unresponsive Cassandra to the kitchen where she poured both of them a bowl of cereal. Normally there would be food on the table which was usually cooked by Victoria but since it was so early in the morning and many people were still asleep they had to make breakfast themselves.

She ate quickly while chatting excitedly to Cassandra. It was more of a one-sided conversation really, with Lily doing most of the talking while Cassandra ate in silence, blatantly ignoring her.

After eating breakfast they sat in an awkward silence in the living room each waiting for the other to talk first. They could have gone outside but neither of them felt like it, even though it was a bright, sunny day.

"I wonder how the wizarding world would be like?" Lily asked in a rhetorical question. She really didn't expect Cassandra to answer

For a full minute Cassandra didn't say anything. She hesitated for a moment then spoke in a quiet voice. "They will probably look down on you, since you're a muggle-born. They'll treat you like a second-class citizen. Do you really want to go somewhere where they treat you like that?"

"How do you know they'll treat me like that. And what about you, you're a muggle-born too, you know." Lily had had enough with Cassandra's behaviour. "Is that why you're so negative about being a witch?"

When Cassandra failed to respond. Lily sighed. It seemed that she would have to get used to the new Cassandra.

She hated it when Cassandra kept secrets from her, especially secrets as big as the one she was keeping right now. It was the reason that Cassandra was moody and it was also the reason she was keeping secrets from her. She had tried many times in the past month to gather up the courage to ask Cassandra about what she knew but each time when she saw the pleading look in her eyes, she couldn't do it. She knew it was ruining their friendship but she didn't want to ask a question that she would probably regret for the rest of her life.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

It was around 12 o'clock and Lily was getting really worried. The professor had not showed up yet. Lily had being waiting anxiously for a long time trying to talk to anyone but Cassandra. It was pretty boring. Since it was summer holidays, most people were just starting to stir from sleep. That must be it, the professor must still be asleep.

The ringing of the doorbell made her very excited. She raced quickly to the front door and opened it, forgetting to check for the person. She didn't have too, standing there was Professor Weasley. She looked the same with her light brown bushy hair and hazel brown eyes.

Lily stared, she didn't know what to do. She had forgotten her manners. Thankfully she was saved by Victoria who had also being waiting somewhat anxiously for the professor return.

"It's good to see you again." Victoria greeted with a smile that looked quite forced. "Come in, please. So I can serve some refreshments."

She shook her head. "No that's quite all right. We have to be going." She looked at the silent Lily. "Are you ready?"

Lily could only nod. She felt she was forgetting something but she couldn't remember. Of course, how could she forget Cassandra? "I have to get Cassandra." was the only warning she gave to the woman before she started racing around the house, in search of Cassandra.

She didn't have to look long. Cassandra had being watching the whole conversation, well hidden so that no one would see her. Lily guessed that Cassandra had hoped that she would forget her and leave. Well she was in for a surprise.

"Cassie, there you are." Lily linked her arm into Cassandra's instantly rigid form tightly, so that it would be hard to leave her grasp. "It's time to go."

She frog-marched her to the door where Professor Weasley was waiting for them.

The Professor seemed pleasantly surprised to see Cassandra there. She smiled encouragingly at her but this didn't break Cassandra's cold stare.

Professor Weasley shrugged her shoulders unconcernedly then looked at Victoria. "I'll return your two wards sometime this evening. There is no need to worry about them. They are perfectly safe in my care."

Victoria gazed into Professor Weasley's eyes unwaveringly. "I expect you to. If anything happens to them, you will pay the price."

Professor Weasley flinched unwillingly and abruptly snatched her eyes from Victoria's gaze. Instead she looked upon the two wards. "It's time we left. Follow me."

She led them both outside where they were surprised to see three other kids their age there.

Cassandra stopped in her tracks. She looked suspiciously at the Professor. "What is the meaning of this?"

"These are the other muggle-borns I'm taking out for the day." Responded the Professor.

The three other children stared at them curiously. And as Lily got closer she could see them all more clearly. There were two boys and a girl. One of the boys had honey blond hair, light blue eyes which were covered with thick frames and a slightly pointed chin. The other had light brown hair with a long fringe that covered his eyes. The girl had boyishly short dark brown hair that were tied into two little pig tails, warm honey brown eyes and a round open face.

"Hi, my name's Lily and this is my friend Cassie." She pointed at Cassandra. "What's yours?" Lily greeted them while holding out her hands to shake.

The two boys stared at Cassandra with awestruck expressions on their faces. They made no move to greet her.

Lily sighed as she recognised the signs. They had fallen in love with Cassandra.

It was the girl that finally broke the barrier. "My name is Alison." The girl mumbled shyly as she shook Lily's hands. "Nice to meet you."

Lily returned the shake of hands wholeheartedly, knowing she had just made a friend.

Alison pointed at the honey blond haired boy. "He's Anthony," She then proceeded to point at the light brown haired boy. "And he's Matthew. I don't know why they're acting like this, they were so nice before."

As their names were being said both boys promptly blushed and started whispering to themselves.

"Now that you acquainted yourselves with each other, I really do think it is time to leave." Professor Weasley butted in.

She led them to a corner at the end of the street. She brought her wand out from her pockets them stuck it up in the air.

Almost immediately there was a loud bang, then a huge, purple, triple-decker bus appeared. It had the words 'The Knight Bus' written on the top.

Lily jumped slightly, as she clutched her fast beating heart. "What just happened?"

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick you wand hand and step aboard, we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Mickey McLaren, and I will be you conductor for this lovely afternoon." The conductor of the bus said all this with a slightly nasally, bored voice. He stared ahead of them, not really looking at them.

Professor Weasley placed her hands on her hips. "You've said the exact same speech to me three times today already. When are you going to start looking before talking?"

The conductor blushed. "Sorry, Professor. On'y jus' got this job a month ago. I ain't used to it yet."

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Now take me and my tree charges to Leaky Cauldron please." The Professor stepped aboard then ushered the children in, making sure that they were all seated safely.

"That would be four Galleons Professor." said Mickey.

Professor Weasley handed him four large gold objects.

"What was that you just gave him?" Lily asked curiously

"I just gave him some Galleons. It's a type of wizarding money. Seventeen Sickles make up a Galleon an twenty-nine Knuts make up a Sickle. Gold coins are Galleons, silver coins are Sickles and the bronze coins are Knuts." She stopped abruptly when the bus started to move.

The bus shot forward faster than anything that Lily had ever been on. It zipped in and out of traffic, not seeming to care about the other cars.

Lily looked at the other kids. They had probably being on the bus earlier so were not affected by it as much as Lily. The two boys were looking a little jittery but that could just be the affect of the swinging bus. Alison looked the most affected by the bus. She was positively green and looked ready to vomit at any minute.

Less than a minute later the bus stopped very abruptly with a bang. This caused Lily to hit her head on the seat in front of her.

Lily blushed when she realised that no one else had bumped their head, even Alison who was clutching the ends of the seat tightly with her hands.

When Alison caught her looking and flashed a smile of encouragement.

"Your stop, Mrs Bagglebout." Mickey called

An old lady that Lily hadn't noticed woke up from her sleep. "Oh... thank you for waking me up. You're such a nice boy Mickey" She smiled at him fondly as she got off the bus.

The bus started up again with a big jerk. Two minutes later it stopped abruptly again.

"It's time to get off the bus, we're almost there" Professor Weasley called to them.

She steered them out of the bus and into a busy street. No one on the street seemed to notice the strange bus or them.

"Make sure you stay close to me." The Professor warned them.

Lily nodded unconsciously and followed the Professor to the outside of a tiny grubby-looking pub. Could this place be where wizards and witches went to? She couldn't see how. It wasn't a place you looked at twice, even now people in the street eyes slid of it as if it wasn't there.

Before she could mention this the Professor led them inside.

If this was supposed to be a wizarding place, it wasn't much. It was very dark and shabby. There was nowhere near full to the bursting but it wasn't empty. It had a few customers which was enough to give it a low buzz of chatter.

Most people seemed to know the professor. Some waved and smiled at her, others just stared antagonizing.

"It's good to see you again Hermione." A blond haired barmaid with a slightly pink face greeted the Professor as she wiped a glass. "I see your bringing in another batch of muggle-borns."

Professor Weasley merely nodded and flashed a small smile. She led the children through the bar and into a small, walled courtyard where there was nothing but a few weeds.

She tapped the wall three times with the tip of her wand. The brick she touched quivered then grew wider into a archway. The archway led to a cobbled street which twisted and turned.

"Welcome," said the Professor with a small smile on her face. "to Diagon Alley." She looked at each of the children expectantly as the stepped through the archway. She wasn't let down. Everyone of the children-even Cassandra- could not help but gape at the sight before them.

There were shops everywhere with lots of wizards and witches dressed in strange clothes bustling in and out of them.

As they walked through the cobbled street Lily couldn't help thinking that the shops looked like they sold things she had never seen before. She saw brooms that was flying in one shop, some owls hooting in cages in another shop and some golden cauldrons in the other shop. She was amazed. Finally she had seen something that you couldn't call anything except for magical. She couldn't wait to buy something.

Suddenly her heart sank. How could she have being so stupid? Why hadn't she thought of bringing money with her? If only she had known before hand. She laughed bitterly in the inside. Like it would have made a difference. The orphanage was too poor to give the orphans a really meaningful amount of pocket money. To even be able to buy anything useful, you'd have had to save your money for months. That's why most orphans who were the legal age to get a job, took the chance greedily.

Soon they reached they're destination. It was a snowy-white dome-shaped building which towered over the others. Standing beside the huge shiny bronze doors was a scarlet and gold uniformed creature.

Lily stared at them curiously. The creature was just a head shorter than Lily. It had a swarthy, clever face and pointed beard.

"Don't stare." the Professor whispered sharply to all of them. "It's rude. They're called goblins and the infamous for being prideful. They own all the banks in the wizarding world"

Instantly Lily diverted her gaze from the goblin.

The goblin stared at the unnervingly as the walked inside. They now faced a large silver doo which had words engraved on the.

_Enter stranger, but take the heed,_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors,_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have being warned beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

Lily shivered involuntarily. The message was very clear. It seemed that anyone who even thought of robbing the bank would pay dearly.

A pair of goblins eyed them suspiciously before bowing at them as they entered through the silver doors to the huge marble hall. About a hundred or more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing large shiny objects on brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people out of these.

As soon as they entered all activity stopped. The goblins stared at the Professor and the four muggle-borns made for the counter.

"Good Afternoon." said Professor Weasley to the goblin. "We've come to take money from the Hogwarts account and exchange muggle currency with wizarding currency."

"Show your key and hand over muggle currency." Said the goblin.

Professor Weasley removed the key from her pockets along with three thick wads of notes that she had gotten from the parents of Alison, Matthew and Anthony.

The goblins took the key and money, examining them carefully for a very long time before handing the key back to Professor Weasley along with three heavy sacks of wizarding coins that jingled when it moved.

"Very well everything seems to be in order." The goblin eyed out the professor. "I'll have someone take you down to the vault." Hodrod." He called out.

Instantly yet another goblin showed up. This one seemed to be rather a lot younger than the other. The first goblin whispered to the younger goblin, glanced suspiciously at Professor Weasley then left.

Hodrod held open one of the numerous doors for them to come through. They were in a narrow passageway, where dimly lit flaming torches flickered ominously. It sloped steeply downwards and there were railway tracks on the floor.

Hodrod whistled and a railway cart came speeding towards them. They climbed in and were off.

Most of the journey was in silence as they hurtled through a maze of twisting passages that went left, right, left, right, left, right. It was impossible to remember them.

The fast cold air made Lily's eyes water and she could have sworn that she saw a sprinkle of flames. As they plunged deeper and deeper into the into the passageway Alison seemed to becoming greener and greener.

"Are you all right?" Lily asked.

Alison nodded. "I just get motion sickness easily." The cart hit a bump in the railway tracks and Alison started taking huge gasps of breaths. "Ohhhhhhhhh... I'm going to be sick. Please don't talk to me."

"Can you slow the speed of the cart down please?" Professor Weasley asked Hodrod when she noticed to green Alison.

The goblin smiled nastily. "Sorry, only one speed."

Finally the cart came to a stop beside a large door. Alison got out quickly so that she could feel the ground. She looked ready to throw up any minute now.

Professor Weasley feeling no small amount of sympathy for her, flicked her wand around and suddenly a brown paper bag showed up in thus air. "If you feel sick, vomit in here."

Alison nodded gratefully and did just that.

Hodrod unlocked the great door. All the children except for Cassandra gasped. Inside, there were gigantic mountains of gold, huge hills of silver and mounds of bronze. All of them could tell without a doubt that it was real.

The professor put a small amount of coins into two small sacks then turned around to leave.

Another wild cart ride later, they stood blinking at the bright lights of the huge marble hall.

The Professor held out two small sacks of coins to Cassandra and Lily. "Hogwarts gives orphans money to pay for school necessities." She smiled apologetically. "Sorry it isn't much."

Neither Cassandra's nor Lily made a move to take the take the money. Cassandra was staring the professor coldly while Lily was too ashamed to even look at the professor

Professor Weasley sighed. She had been expecting this. Some people were too proud for their own good. Instantly she felt herself go warm at the thought of her own husband's pride. "It's the only way that you will be able to buy the things needed for Hogwarts. I have talked to Miss Bones about it and she agrees with me."

Lily was very silent. She didn't want to take the money but she wanted to go to Hogwarts really badly even if it meant excepting charity. Ugh, how she hated that word. Lily reluctantly took one of the sacks that the professor was holding. She looked at Cassandra expecting her to do the same. Instead Cassandra just kept on staring at the Professor coldly.

"I don't need your filthy money, I believe my family owns a vault here themselves." Her mouth curled up in scorn. "I'll use that money instead."

Lily gasped. Cassandra had basically just admitted that her parents were wizards and witches and that she knew it all along. She was so shocked. How could Cassandra have lied to her for so many years? Could she trust her any longer.

Cassandra called a goblin over. "Can you please take me to the Lestrange vault?"

"Do you have a key?" The goblin asked.

"No." Cassandra shook her head.

"Then I will need to take some of your blood to prove that you are of Lestrange blood." The goblin leads Cassandra to one of the empty counters with the rest of the group trailing behind her. A drop of her blood fell into a strange vial filled with silvery substances. When nothing happened at first the goblin frowned, but after a while the vial started to bubble and out came a key. "I shall take you to your vault then." He started to lead Cassandra to the doors where the railway tracks were but was stopped by Professor Weasley.

"No, stop. I'm her guardian for the day. I have to go with her." Professor Weasley said.

The goblin nodded stiffly in agreement.

Te professor started herding the children into the door.

"I don't think I can make it." Alison groaned, clutching her stomach. "Everyone should go without me."

The professor looked uncertain for a moment. "Someone has to stay with you." She stared at all of them. "Do I have any takers?"

When no one volunteered Lily knew she had too. It would be unfair to leave Alison alone. "I'll stay with her." Lily said. "I don't mind."

Professor Weasley smile gratefully. Cassandra glared at her, betrayal shining clear in her eyes. The two boys both looked relieved that someone had said they would stay behind instead of them being forced to. As they left to the door the boy called Matthew flashed her a warm smile before leaving to the railway tracks.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Lily and Alison didn't have to wait long before the group came back. To pass the time they talked about how excited they were to find out they were actually magical and would actually be able to go to a magical school.

When the group came back from Cassandra's vault the first place they went to was a robe shop. It was called 'Madame Malkin's Robes for all occasions.

Madame Malkin was a squat, greying, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. She greeted all the muggle-borns warmly and busily started measuring them.

Even though all the robes that Lily bought were second-hand, Madame Malkin made her feel just as special as the rest of the muggle-borns.

They bought all their school books in a shop called 'Flourish and Blotts'. The shop was filled with lots and lots of strange books. Some books were as large as paving stones bound in leather while other books were the size of a postage stamp bound in soft silk. There were books filled with peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing at all.

There were so many books that Lily wanted to buy but she stopped herself. This wasn't her money to use; she should only buy the things she needed for school. So Lily sighed as she left the book shop with old withered second-hand books.

They went to another store where she bought a rusty pair of brass scales and a collapsible brass telescope.

The apothecary was very gross in Lily's opinion. It smelled horrible, a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floors, jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powder lined the walls, bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling.

Lily got a rusty pair of brass scales and a collapsible brass telescope. The ingredients Lily got were the same as everybody else's. Most of the ingredients there weren't reusable.

They visited the 'Eyelops Owl Emporium' where Anthony and Matthew both got an owl when they heard they could be used for postage. Anthony got a large barn owl with big brown eyes while Matthew got an Elf owl with two distinctive, dark stripes on its sides. Lily thought the snowy owls looked especially cute

They then visited the 'Magical Menagerie' where Alison fell so in love with a orange tabby kitten that she had to buy it. Neither Cassandra or Lily bought any animals although Cassandra looked very interested in the snakes.

"Now the only thing left now is to get you wands." Professor Weasley said as they stepped out of 'Magical Menagerie

A wand? Now Lily could really do magic.

The shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read 'Olivanders: Makers of fine wands since 382 BC' A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang loudly from somewhere in the depths of the shop. It was a tiny, old dusty place, empty of all furniture except for a single spindly chair which Professor Weasley sat on to wait.

The place was very mysterious. It felt so much like an old library that when Lily walked to the shop, she unintentionally broke the conversation with Alison. There were narrow boxes everywhere she looked at, piled up neatly right up to the ceiling. It was so silent, no one in the group dared to make a sound.

"Good Afternoon." Although it was barely a whisper, it could be heared by everyone.

An old man was standing before them. His wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello." Alison said self consciously.

"Ah yes. I am guessing you are all her to purchase a wand?" Mr Olivander said. He turned to the Professor. "Hermione Granger, or should I say Weasley now? How nice to see you again so soon... Vine, 10 3/4" Dragon Heartstrings wasn't it?"

"Yes it was." The Professor answered solemnly.

"It was a good wand, perfect for someone as intelligent as you... Hmm," said Mr Olivander. He turned to the squirming muggle-borns. "Can you all hold out you wand hand?"

The muggle-borns looked at each other, unsure. When Cassandra held out her right hand the others shrugged and followed her example.

Mr Olivander started measuring the the group's arms. As he measured he spoke. "Every Olivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers and heartstrings of dragons. No two Olivanders wands are the same, just as no two unicorns or dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course you will never get such good results from other wizards' wands." He stopped when he came to measuring Alison arm. "Silly girl, your wand hand is your left hand."

Alison blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"That will do." called Olivander. Instantly the tape measures that had been floating crumpled to the ground. Mr Olivander flitted through the boxes, taking out the boxes.

He started with Anthony, handing him wands to try out. In a second when nothing happened, he would instantly snatch it from his hands and try another one.

It didn't take long for Anthony to find his wand. When he did, small showers of sparks shot from it.

Matthew was next; he took on a few minutes longer than Anthony. Alison came afterwards; hers took even less time than Anthony or Matthew.

Soon it was Cassandra's turn. She went through countless wands until Mr Olivander found the right one. He looked very excited as he handed it to her. "yew, 14 1/2" the skin of a basilisk as its core. Instantly a cloud of dark smoke erupted from the wand.

Olivander practically squealed in delight. "This is the only wand I have with a basilisk core. I expect it to be an extremely powerful wand; just like its owner." He beamed at Cassandra.

Lily thought it was too soon when her turn came up. Her palms were sweaty with nervousness. She took the wand that Mr Olivander gave her and swished it, feeling very foolish.

Nothing happened. Mr Olivander snatched it quickly from his hands. This repeated itself time and time again.

"very tricky customers today." He whispered happily to himself.

Lily felt horrible. She had been going through wands even longer than Cassandra had. A terrible thought struck her. What if no wands chose her? What if this was all a horrible joke and she wasn't actually a witch. She wouldn't be able to bare it.

Mr Olivander gave her another wand, his hands trembled with happiness. "I hope this works, it's Holly, 10" phoenix feather. Give it a go."

Lily took the wand. Suddenly she felt warmth spread from the tips of her fingers to the very end of her arm. She swished it, desperately hoping that this was her wand. A huge ball a fire escaped her wand and Lily couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Mr Olivander clapped. "Oh... Bravo....bravo... spectacular indeed."

He put Lily's wand in a brown paper bag with a faraway gleam in his eye, as if he was trying to remember something from a very long time.

Everyone who purchased their wands paid seven gold galleons before leaving the store.

Mr Olivander muttered quietly to himself as he watched the retreating figures. "Curious and more curious."

The late afternoon's summer sun hung low as they made their way through Diagon Alley and stopped for ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice cream parlour.

After much insisting by Alison, Lily finally relented for Alison to buy her an ice cream.

But Alison could, Cassandra decided to step in. "I'll buy Lily an ice cream." she said. "After all she's _my _friend."

This started an arguing match with Alison and Cassandra on who would buy Lily and ice cream, which finally ended when the Professor called it a day and decided that they all should go home.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

The Knight Bus pulled to a stop in front of St Magdalene's Orphanage. Professor Weasley, Cassandra and Lily quickly got off. The rest of the muggle-borns had being dropped off before, leaving only Cassandra and Lily left.

They stood on the top step of the walkway leading to the house so they could say goodbye.

Lily handed back the sack of money back to the Professor. "Thank you for lending me money to pay for my school stuff. I really appreciate it."

The Professor did not collect the sack. "You're supposed to keep the rest of the money." She pushed the sack more closer to Lily.

Lily shook her head. "I'll feel weird if I kept it. _Please_ can you keep take it back, you've already helped me a lot."

The Professor really didn't want to but she finally acquiesced. "Okay." She pocketed the sack then handed them tickets. "It's for Hogwarts, first of September Kings Cross, Miss Bones will know what to do."

Lily and Cassandra nodded in understanding.

The Professor waved goodbye and walked to a secluded alleyway that was out of sight for Cassandra and Lily. They heard a faint popping noise and knew that the Professor was gone.

Lily rang the doorbell to the orphanage and waited patiently for someone to answer.

"Cassie." She said hesitantly.

"What is it?" Cassandra asked.

"Thank you for going with me to Diagon Alley. I know how much you didn't want to."

"It was no big deal; I wasn't exactly in my best behaviour." Cassandra shrugged. It was true; Cassandra had being surly and detached all through the trip. She hardly talked to anybody and when most of the time she was asked a question she would just shrug moodily.

"You're the best, Cassie. No matter what." Lily hugged her tightly then let go. It was then that the door opened.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

**A/N: Help! I need some ideas for the sorting hat song, so if anyone has ANYTHING, you have to tell me. Also PLEASE Read and Review. This is my first fanfic and I'll really appreciate any type of review.**


	7. Chapter 6: Did I really just do that?

_Chapter 6: Did I really just do that?_

_Harry_

_1987, Little Whinging, Surrey_

_School is one of the worst things anyone would choose to endure. Seven year old Harry thought as he sat in his Year 3 classroom, listening to his teacher drone on and on about the wonders of the two times tables._

_Even though he was bored out of his mind by his teacher's mechanical voice he still had to admit that it was better than being in the unsafe playground where all of Dudley friends would surely pick on him. He wouldn't have minded as much if he had any friends to talk to but Dudley had already taken care of that. His cousin had to make sure that anyone who made any move to be his friend was bullied mercilessly until they were even afraid to look at Harry. He remembered the time about a year ago when he met a red haired girl called Ginny. He had thought he had his first friend but was greatly disappointed when he hadn't met her again. He was so stupid, he should have asked for her address before she had left._

_In his disappointed haze Harry never heard the teacher asking his cousin a question and his cousin answering wrong. So when his teacher asked him the same question, he answered automatically, getting the question right._

_It was only when the class started laughing at Dudley for getting a really easy question wrong, did he realise the seriousness of his mistake. _

_For the rest the class Dudley gave Harry the stink eye and kept on acting out someone being punched in the gut. Harry found it more annoying than threatening. Dudley small piggy eyes could barely muster a glare let alone a stink eye and being beaten up or being threatened to be beaten up by Dudley and his gang was an everyday occurrence._

_When the bell rang signalling the end of classes and the beginning of break Harry stood from his desk quickly, hoping to make it out of the building before Dudley and his gang. He had almost made it out without any incident when he caught sight of Dudley and his friends blocking the entranceway to the playground._

"_Hey Harry," the squeaky sing-song voice of the scrawny Piers Polkiss, Dudley's second in command and also best friend called to Harry as soon as he was facing them. "What you doing?"_

_Instead of answering the question Harry lowered his head to the floor and tried to brush past them through a small opening he saw around the group of miscreants. Immediately the opening was closed, ruining Harry's chances to freedom._

_Harry sighed "What do you want? Can't you guys just leave me alone?"_

_Dudley laughed. A second later the gang joined him. "You embarrassed me at class today Harry. Remember our deal? You're not supposed to embarrass me. Ever."_

_Harry rolled his eyes. Here was Dudley trying to act cool in front of his friends again. "It's not my fault that you're so stupid that you couldn't answer a simple maths question." With that Harry shoved his way past the unsuspecting bullies into the cool fresh air of the playground. _

_Behind him he could hear Dudley gang running after him. He picked up speed, dodging left and right he made his way through a swarm of playing kids faces- they didn't look surprised, merely curious as they watched Harry race away, closely followed by Dudley's gang._

_If he could just find somewhere to hide for the remainder of break he would be safe from Dudley's bullying. But where could he __hide__? All the good places he used to hide in had being found by Dudley and friends. He scanned the area surrounding him hopefully._

_There! If he could just ditch the idiots following him he could duck behind the school dustbins. It would be smelly but safe and quiet since hardly anyone came near this area due to the horrible smell emanating from the refuse spilling out of the dustbins. The only risk factor involved would be getting caught by the lunch ladies who came around at lunchtime from the kitchen to dump rubbish and to secretly smoke._

_Harry turned abruptly to the direction of the dustbins, anticipating that his sharp turn would shake of his pursuers in the crowd of faces. He ran as fast as he could, hoping that no one was behind him._

_The suspense was too much for him he had to look. Damn! They were just coming into the entrance of the alleyway where the dustbins lay, all of them panting desperately- especially Dudley who was the fattest of his gang. It would only be a matter of time before they found him. _

_Harry looked frantically around him, trying to find an escape. There wasn't any. The alleyway was a dead end and the only way out blocked by his cousin's friends. If he tried to dodge them and run out they wouldn't fall for it again no matter how stupid they were. He groaned. He really didn't want to get beat up again. He was still suffering from yesterday's round of bruising._

_Maybe if he hid behind the dustbins they wouldn't find him. There was no time to lose. He spotted the biggest dustbin in the area and jumped, wishing desperately that Dudley and his gang wouldn't find him._

_Suddenly he felt a pressure squeezing him so tightly he couldn't breathe. He felt a fierce wind on both side of him and a rushing of shapes and colours. He closed his eyes when he felt them stinging. He was being squeezed into a rubber tube and when it seemed that he was going to die from being unable to breathe, it stopped._

_The first thing he noticed as soon as the pressure stopped was that he was standing on something very uneven. It seemed to be a rigged inclining plane. When he opened his eyes he couldn't he couldn't help but gasp in disbelief. He was standing of the school's kitchen roof. _

_Millions of thought bubbled through his mind. How had he gotten there? What had taken him there how had he landed here without know? He tried to think of a logical answer before his mind overloaded. The wind that he had felt must have being from when he tried to jump over the dustbins and made it to the roof to avoid Dudley and his gang._

_He looked down and gulped. 'Did I really just do that?' he thought. The dustbins looked a little too far and a little too low for him to have jumped from it. He could also still see Dudley and his band of followers. They seemed to have given up their favourite game, Harry Hunting._

_Harry gave a sigh of relief. They hadn't noticed him so they wouldn't get a chance to tell the teacher._

_Now he only had to find a way to get off the roof. He looked down again and gulped loudly. He hadn't realised how far from the ground he was. If he tried to jump it the least damage that could happen was that he would break both his legs. He spotted a pipe on the other side of the roof. Gingerly, he took his first step and gasped as he almost slipped on the surface of the roof. He scraped his feet on it, testing it and was dismayed to find out that the roof was still wet and slippery due to the morning's rain. He wouldn't even make it half-way to the pipes before he fell off. He'd just have to wait until someone found to find him._

_So Harry sat waiting for someone to find him. It wasn't until the end of break the end of morning classes and the beginning of lunch that someone found him._

_It was one of the lunch ladies. She came from the back door of the kitchens to put some rubbish in the bins and to smoke a cigarette illegally on the school grounds. The lunch lady was just starting to smoke her first cigarette of the day when she noticed a little boy crouching on the roof with his hands over his face. _

_She half choked on her cigarette in surprise and quickly stamped it out. "What the bloody hell are you doing up there!?!"_

_Harry removed his face from his hands, startled. He hadn't noticed that the lunch lady was there and he had almost given up hope of anyone finding him. "I don't know. I've being waiting for someone to find me now for the longest time."_

_The lunch lady's sharp eyes turned round in kindness as she gazed at the scared boy. "Can't you get down?" She asked him softly._

"_I don't know how to miss; I'm scared I might fall down."_

"_What about trying to get down the way you came up?"_

"_I don't know how I got up miss, but I'll try and get down." Harry stood up and tried to take a small step. He slipped and fell on his bum and had to keep firm grip on the ridges on the declining roof to keep from slipping._

_The lunch lady gasped. If the boy fell she'd be the one blamed for it. If she was fired how would she pay the rent at her flat? "Stay there! Don't move! I'll try and get help." She rushed back into the building._

_A few minute later she came back with a horde of teachers which included Mrs Dumont, aptly named the demon headmistress behind her back by her peers, teacher and student alike._

_The headmistress glared at Harry. "You're in big trouble young man, you caused quite a scare! Lots of the school staff have being looking for you which have disrupted the day's lessons and we now have to call the fire department to get you from that blasted roof, do you know what that will do to the reputation of the school!?!" She shrieked at him, pointing her long bony fingers his way._

_Harry gulped. He hadn't realised the consequences of him being on the roof. He might be expelled from school and never allowed to come back. Although Harry hated school, it was a lot better than having to stay at home while Aunt Petunia bossed him around to do chores until his whole body was sore_

_It only took the fire department a small number of minutes to get to Harry's school. The fire engine noise could be heard from miles away. _

_It was the most embarrassing day of Harry's entire life. The whole school came to watch (and some of the neighbours) as one of the firemen came with a ladder and plucked him from the roof. They jeered and laughed at him as the firemen set on the ground and covered him with a blanket. What was worse was the look of anger and embarrassment on the faces of his Aunt and Uncle; he definitely knew he was going to get punished tonight._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Ginny_

_1987, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon_

_She was going to do it no matter what. No one could stop her. It was finally time to show the world what she was made of._

_6 years old Ginny was going to do the impossible. She would finally for the first time in her life fly on a broomstick. She had being planning this for a long time. Ever since she had not being allowed to visit Harry, the boy she'd met from a year ago she had tried to find one way to have some semblance of freedom. She'd planned to sneak out of the house while her brothers and parents were sleeping and borrow one of her brother's broomsticks._

_She was already to the door of the house when she heard a loud creak coming from upstairs. She froze, straining her ears for any more sound. When she heard a loud moan she relaxed, it was only the family ghoul in the attic. For safety purposes she waited a few more minutes before deeming it safe to move again._

_She stepped out to the cool breezy air, just perfect for flying. Still a bit wary she opened the door to her father's shed, wincing when it made a loud creak._

_Too thrilled to really care about what type of her brothers' broom she picked, she grabbed the closest one to the door of the shed and sped to an open area at the centre of the field her family owned._

_It was only when she had the broomstick between her legs and was ready to take off that she realised one terrible thing. She didn't know how to fly. _

_It wasn't her fault, no one had ever taught her how to. She remembered the broom lessons Charlie and Bill had given to Ron and the twins. It had taken them days (weeks in Ron's case) to learn how to properly handle and fly a broomstick. How was she supposed to learn all by herself in one night?_

_Ginny shook her head determinedly to get rid of her thoughts. She had to at least _try_ and fly the broom. If she didn't she would never be able to forgive herself._

_Without thinking she took off on the broom. She was moving too fast for her brain to fully take in. It was like some sort of long lost instinct had suddenly taken over her which made her want to go as high and as fast as she possibly could._

_It was only when the broom started to vibrate slightly from being too high in the air that Ginny started to get fully coherent thoughts into her brain._

_She looked down and blinked, dazed. 'Did I really just do that?' She thought. She was so high up that she found it hard to breathe properly._

_How would she get down from this high up? She knew from watching her brothers fly that it was dangerous to fly too high. Fred and George had once tried to see how high they could go but had being forcefully reprimanded by their mother. She had warned them not to do it again or she would take away their broomstick indefinitely._

_Slowly and steadily she steered herself down. By the time her feet touched the ground her breathe was coming out in short excited bursts. That had been so amazing; she had to do it again._

_More cautiously this time, she rose up with her broom, weaving expertly in and out of the cool steady early morning breeze. This was the first time she felt absolutely free from her parents hold. Like she could do anything she put her mind to. The feeling was the most exhilarating in the world and she never wanted it to end._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Arthur Weasley was one of the calmest men in the world. When faced with an unknown or dangerous situation he was renowned in the late Order of the Phoenix as being one of the few people who were able to keep a cool head. It was only on the rarest of occasions that his perfect composure was ever ruffled._

_This was one of them. His cool head would never have stood a chance when his eyes saw his red haired, six year old daughter shooting straight to the sky on one of her brothers' broomstick._

_To say that Arthur Weasley freaked out would have been a gross understatement. If he had been a few years older he would have been a serious candidate for cardiac arrests. For those few seconds that his only daughter was suspended high up in the air, unseen by her father he literally stopped breathing. His mind was blank and his hands unknowingly clutched his chest._

_How had this happened? All he had wanted was to get a glass of milk from the kitchen to help him sleep after the house ghoul moaning had woken him up but for some reason he had the sudden urge to look out the window his and his wife's bedroom._

_It was a good thing that Arthur Weasley couldn't talk for those few seconds. Had he being able to, he would have screamed and shouted at seeing his little daughter flying all on her own on a broomstick which would have successfully roused the whole Weasley household from sleep insuring that poor little Ginny would have gotten caught._

_Fortunately for Ginny, Arthur Weasley wits did not return to him until his daughter's feet touched the ground. He didn't have time to fully assess the situation before Ginny before took off again. _

_This time he was ready he watched more vigilantly as his daughter looped and whirled in the air. She had a huge smile on her face, the biggest he had seen for a long time._

_He knew he couldn't ruin this moment for her. This was her time to be truly free. _

_His wife's anxious stirring got his attention. Soon she would wake up to find him out of bed. She'd probably get up put her hands around him and see Ginny flying. She'd have a fit, making a big deal out of it and probably never let Ginny out of her sight again._

_It would be better if his wife never knew. Silently he created a ward around the field to keep muggles from looking his daughter's way and he added a cushioning charm in case Ginny fell. He also cast a spell that would warn him if Ginny was ever in any danger_

_Yawning, he went back to bed carefully so as not to wake his wife._


End file.
